216 



REPORT ON THE 



raised from Primula Auricula, but I never could find any 

 trace of resemblance to that species except in the meal. I 

 have raised many thousands of seedlings at various times, 

 and I have found forms amongst them as much like the 

 original species as those that have been exhibited to-day. I 

 could have brought one exactly similar to the last one put 

 forward by Mr. Baker that has been raised from my own 

 crossing. I have taken very great care that there should be 

 none but Auricula-edged flowers in the place, not a single 

 other Primula on the premises. We have had Cowslips from the 

 laced Polyanthus, and consequently I think a great deal as to 

 the origin of the Auricula from the Primula Auricula is mere 

 conjecture. 



Mr. Fraser : I have little doubt that the forms which we 

 have in the gardens have all originated by a long process of 

 selection. But where do we get the various colours from ? We 

 see the type is yellow. That different colours have been found 

 in the wild state I do not deny. Then, if we take P. veris, 

 we find a great number of variations of colour ; and also in 

 the garden forms of Polyanthus. I ask where the colours 

 come from? Possibly I shall be told they arise from hybri- 

 dization one with another. But the original form is yellow. I 

 maintain that all these colours simply arose from variation 

 by selection. When once you get a plant to vary, you can 

 increase the tendency by selection. All these plants have been 

 in gardens so many years that they have been simply selected 

 through the influence of man's tastes and through his desires. 

 Then if we ask how they originated in the state of nature, we 

 find that all the most predominant forms are yellow. I consider 

 that these yellow colours lend themselves, very generally, to 

 different insects that effect the processes of fertilization ; so that 

 we find other colours have originated by a process of selection, 

 a kind of specialization. The yellow and pale colours would 

 confine themselves to fertilization by night-flying moths, and 

 the shape of the corolla tends to point to the same thing. 

 The yellow, being the predominating colour, would lend itself to 

 the greatest number of fertilizing insects ; and when other colours 

 arise, we can imagine these to have been specialized from common 

 forms by insects. So, in the same way, under a state of cul- 

 tivation, all the forms can be traced back to the original ; and 



